Why the Yankees Will Win the World Series

The Yankees will win the franchise’s first World Series since 2009 because, more than any other team, the Bronx Bombers possess a greater ability to put pressure on the opposition.

And in baseball’s post-season, grabbing an early lead can make a big difference since the games have the potential to be pitchers’ battles. After all, anxious managers tend to shuttle an array of relievers and emergency starters into the games. This makes every run seem more precious than it does during the regular season. If Aaron Judge can key a first-inning Yankee rally, so much the better.

Judge, now routinely batting lead-off is the scariest batter in the Major Leagues. Fresh off his 62-home run season, Judge provides an instant ability to give the Yankees an immediate lead. And as the game progresses, he has the potential to get four or five at-bats.

It may seem incongruous (or just plain WRONG!) to have the most distinguished power hitter since the days of Barry Bonds batting first in the lineup, where the likes of Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson and the late Maury Wills made their mark.

But in these days of analytics, the Yankees’ brain trust reasons that it enhances the Yankees’ probability of winning a game, the more at-bats their best hitter gets. And since pitchers don’t come to the plate, the lineup is on a loop, turning over every nine hitters, without an interruption for an automatic-out hurler.

Further, Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, (the suddenly red-hot) Gleyber Torres, D.J. LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson potentially give the Yankees’ lineup more pop than any other American League team. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers can match their hitting depth.

Granted, the Yankees are not a notoriously dangerous team on the basepaths. But they are opportunistic about stealing bases and other teams cannot go to sleep on them.

Their defense is stellar. Other teams would be unwise to try to take an extra base on singles or doubles because the Yankee outfielders have strong arms.

Emotional Leader

So goes Gerrit Cole, so go the Yankees, to a large degree. Cole, the team’s acknowledged ace, is the pitching staff’s emotional leader, as David Cone once was for the Yankees, when the team won four World Series championships in five years, from 1996 to 2000.

“Nasty” Nestor Cortes’ emergence gives the Yankees a reliable No. 2 pitcher behind Cole (though some would argue that Cortes has actually become the ace of the staff).

After Cole and Cortes, it’s anybody’s guess which starting pitcher will step up. The Yankees have many candidates, led by Luis Severino. He was one of the American League’s most fearsome starters, until an injury put him on the shelf. Since he has returned to the rotation, Severino has shown flashes of his old brilliance. But he – or another second-line starter – must bring his “A” game for the team to entertain thoughts of a championship.

The bullpen represents the Yankees’ biggest worry entering the post-season. I happened to attend the game at Yankee Stadium versus the Cincinnati Reds on July 12. That Tuesday night, Cole pitched shut-out ball for eight innings against the overmatched Reds. Then Clay Holmes, at the time the most reliable closer in the American League, promptly blew up.

Since that horrendous loss, Holmes has been hit and miss – though mostly, it seems, getting hit. If he can somehow regain his Mariano Rivera-like mystique for preserving Yankee leads, the Yankees would inspire confidence and give the Las Vegas oddsmakers something to think about before they install the Houston Astros as the prohibitive American League favorites to advance to the World Series.

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone has a lot of pieces to play with. He can use his entire roster and figure out how to get the most out of every player. I like his chances.

That’s why the Yankees will win the World Series.